Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs

We used Allen (along with Hoch) when I did the first year in Middle Egyptian, but I thought that there were some major issues with it (for example, he introduces the syntax of pronouns in chapter 5 but doesn't discuss the semantics of the various kinds of pronouns until much later on - this is partly because he introduces the morphology of verbs so late, I think). It might be much better as a modern reference grammar (because Gardiner is very old-fashioned) than a teaching grammar, but I'm not really advanced enough in the subject to be able to say anything intelligent about that! A lot of the problems would be solved, I think, if chapter 26 (the summary of the grammar) was moved to much earlier in the book as that's where a lot of the show more stuff (like the pronouns, and the verb forms) is tied together. show less

Allan's well-written and clear guide is an excellent resource for any student of Middle Egyptian.

Though it is commonly used in university courses on Middle Egyptian, Allen's work is also aimed at the self-teaching enthusiast - for instance, he devotes sections to the standard scholarly pronunciation of transcribed Egyptian, which one picks up automatically in a classroom, but would be very helpful for the solitary student.

I do miss Hoch's early and forceful emphasis on word order, which is so essential to advanced translation. Student with a background in linguistics find Hoch's (occasionally daunting) technical language simplifies instruction and his comparisons of Middle Egyptian words to Hebrew and Arabic are interesting, but show more there's no denying that Allan's book is much more accessible. show less

The Ancient Egyptian verbal system finally explained! By the time you make it to chapter 25, Special Uses of the Relative Forms, it will all finally make sense. Excellent successor to [[Sir Alan Gardiner]]'s classic work.

The standard text for college courses in Middle Egyptian. Thorough explanations of grammar and vocabulary. Exercises are based on texts coming from actual museum pieces.